Bavaria - A magical journey

Not everyone who nowadays drives on the A73 between Nuremberg and Bamberg knows that they are travelling on a former waterway. Still half a century ago, the old Ludwig-Main-Danube-Canal (in short: Ludwig-Canal) was located here, which represented the last puzzle piece to a navigable connection between the oceans. Build within a remarkable ten years’ time of construction, the canal, which was opened in 1846, was the realization of a small dream of humanity as it finally connected the North Sea with the Black Sea. Unfortunately, the idea could not support itself financially: Too powerful were the railroads, which saw its rise simultaneously, and which soon undermined the ambitious canal project’s future as they were in every regard the faster, more comfortable, and better means of transportation of the hour.

“Let nature be nature” is the philosophy of the Bavarian Forest National Park. Despite massive resistance, this vision has become a groundbreaking showcase project. Because humans do not interfere with nature, the former commercial forests grow into a primeval forest, a unique ecosystem and a refuge for biodiversity. People from all over the world come here. They are looking for answers to the question of why we need more wild nature and what we can learn from it to preserve forests for future generations in times of climate change.

Documentary film with play scenes about the rise and fall of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919 from the perspective of various well-known poets and writers who experienced the events as contemporary witnesses.

Still today, people say that during the stormy night from March 31st to April 1st, 1922, the devil had come to Hinterkaifeck. On the farmstead near Schrobenhausen, all 6 inhabitants – 4 Adults and two children – are struck down bestially. The police did not manage to seek out the murderer(s). As the case is still unsolved as of today, the story still lives on in the minds of the people. Motion pictures, theatre plays, and the bestselling novel “Tannöd”, behind all of them stands Hinterkaifeck. Aspiring police investigators and a self-declared “Internet – special commission ‘Hinterkaifeck’” have now once again taken up the trail of the case. This exciting search for traces is followed by the film, and its findings are recreated in elaborate play scenes. Thereby, a picture of an era thought to be bygone and an idea of what really happened back then comes into existence. More precise than any fiction, the docudrama manages to get closer to the truth.

No Comment portrays the top climbers and young talents of the scene in both bouldering and route climbing with spectacular cinematography. It doesn't just show the hardest problems, it's also about climbing as a lifestyle and those who have shaped the scene from the beginning, such as Ben Moon, Jerry Moffat and Gerhard Hörhager. It also showcases the young talents like David Lama, Luca Zardini, Markus Bock and Michael Mayr introducing a new generation of super athletes, their philosophy and the way they live their lives. The film features an original soundtrack by10 Tyrolean musicians.

Actor and writer Stephen Fry explores his passion for the world's most controversial composer, Richard Wagner. As a life-long fan can Stephen, who is Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust, salvage Wagner's music from its dark associations with anti-Semitism and Hitler?

This Traveltalk series short visit to southern Germany begins in Berchtesgaden. After a boat ride on the Königssee and a look at the Neuschwanstein castle, we visit the village of Mittenwald, renowned for making violins, and then go to Oberammergau, where the famous Passion play is performed by village residents every ten years. The last stop is a village on the shore of the Tegernsee, where we see traditional Bavarian dances performed.

Prost takes you inside Bavaria’s Upper Franconia—home to more breweries per capita than anywhere else in the world. From ancient cellars to bustling beer gardens, this two-part film explores how beer shapes culture, tradition, and community in the region proudly known as “BierLand.”

Ludwig II of Bavaria, more commonly known by his nicknames the Swan King or the Dream King, is a legendary figure - the handsome boy-king, loved by his people, betrayed by his cabinet and found dead in tragic and mysterious circumstances. He spent his life in pursuit of the ideal of beauty, an ideal that found expression in three of the most extraordinary, ornate architectural schemes imaginable - the castle of Neuschwanstein and the palaces of Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee. Today, these three buildings are among Germany's biggest tourist attractions. Dan Cruickshank explores the rich aesthetic of Ludwig II - from the mock-medievalism of Neuschwanstein, the iconic fairytale castle that became the inspiration for the one in Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty, to the rich Baroque splendour of Herrenchiemsee, Ludwig's answer to Versailles. Dan argues that Ludwig's castles are more than flamboyant kitsch and are, in fact, the key to unravelling the eternal enigma of Ludwig II.

This James A. FitzPatrick Traveltalks short visits the West German cities of Hamburg, Bremen, Munich, and Heidelberg. Included are scenes of World War II destruction that lingered at the time.

In this documentary, which features unreleased demo tapes and very personal interviews, the band looks back at its beginnings, at major achievements, and at hard times.

Altötting in Bavaria, around 120 km from Regensburg, is a much-visited pilgrimage site. Numerous Catholic pilgrims come here every year. The photographs show various groups of pilgrims in search of extraordinary and spiritual experiences, which are contrasted with the ordinariness of village life. The secular-commercial organization of the pilgrimage site and the marketing of the miracle do not always make it easy to distinguish between pilgrims and tourists, pilgrimage and spectacle, faith and madness.

After several days of rainfall, the watchword in wide parts of Bavaria in early June 2013 is: Land submerged! Within the shortest time, the flood catastrophe is taking its course: The regions around Kolbermoor, Deggendorf, and Passau are the hot spots. For the local population, these are dramatic days of hope and fear, for the aid workers it means work around the clock. In those days, Bavaria closed the ranks: Volunteers from all regions come in order to lend a hand and help. The Bayerische Fernsehen commemorates the dramatic days and weeks in the early summer of 2013 with the documentary “Die Jahrhundertflut” (“The flood of the century”).